The Sunday Junkie: Dec. 2 edition

The recent Thanksgiving holiday in the States gave MMA fans a little bit of a calm before the storm that will be December.

So we expect The Sunday Junkie to get tons of entries over the coming month. This week, though, we heard from readers about Ronda Rousey (no surprise), Nick Diaz, Georges St-Pierre, even MMA in South Africa.

But this week’s winner, Chris Childress, from Clarksburg, W.V., gives props to St-Pierre for proving that putting on a great fight has the ability to silence some of the talk about extracurricular happenings in the sport.

For his winning entry, Childress receives a free one-year subscription to “Fighters Only” magazine, the world’s leading MMA and lifestyle magazine.

Want to submit to next week’s edition of The Sunday Junkie? Scroll to the bottom of the page for instructions.

Also, as a reminder, please be sure to include your hometown and stick within the 150-word limit (and include your submission in the body of an email, not in an attachment). Many quality submissions this week didn’t meet those minimum guidelines and couldn’t be considered for publication.

(Pictured: Georges St-Pierre)

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ST-PIERRE SHOWS THAT GOOD FIGHTS SILENCE DRAMA

After UFC 154, the level of MMA drama has decreased. The journalist and forum bickering has abated, replaced by appreciation and excitement for great fights. With Bendo vs. Diaz, there is another great card to look forward to – so you don’t see nearly as many disgruntled fans in forums complaining about what the UFC needs to do, what Dana White is doing wrong or picking on Jon Jones for turning down one fight on short notice when he defends his belt more than any other champ. It’s nice to see a departure from the drama and get back to excitement for the best sport around. MMA fans aren’t the most patient or logical creatures, but great fights capture our attention. The attention given to trivial things like White’s tipping habits is ridiculous and takes away from what should be the biggest interest of every fan – a great fight.

Chris Childress
Clarksburg, W.V.

UFC MISSING OPPORTUNITIES WITH LACK OF PROMOTION FOR FOX CARDS

Just over a year ago, the UFC partnered with sports broadcast giant FOX. And their first televised offering was a major one: a heavyweight championship headliner between then-champ Cain Velasquez and Junior Dos Santos. For weeks leading up to the event, this clash of two fighters undefeated in the octagon was heavily hyped and heavily publicized as a big step forward for the sport. Largely because of this, the event peaked with nearly 9 million viewers. Now, less than a week before its fifth showing on FOX, the UFC may be selling itself short in media coverage and anticipation for yet another solid card, arguably its best on the network so far. Dana White and company would’ve greatly benefited from more exposure leading up to Dec. 8 and should consider better strategies for bringing more viewers in the future.

Nate “Dank_Hemperson420″ Lewis
Portland, Ore.

NICK DU RANDT MIGHT JUST BE UNSTOPPABLE

Nick Du Randt is a well-known boxing trainer who has steered 19 boxers to international honors and 90 South African champions and has decided to play his hand in MMA. Nick found an MMA fighter, Jeremy ‘”Pitbull” Smith and entered him into the middleweight division of the EFC, Africa’s biggest fight promotion. At EFC 12 in March 2012, his fighter, who is actually more of a boxer, slipped on a rear-naked choke and won against former EFC middleweight champ Gareth Mclellan. One of the EFC’s most highly rated fighters, Darren Daniel, challenged the middleweight champ and ended up losing at EFC 17 in November. One has to start thinking, is Nick Du Randt the Godfather of fighting, or just lucky in the fighters he chooses?

Ruan Grobler
Cape Town, South Africa

THERE ARE WAYS PENN CAN BEAT MACDONALD

Even if Penn comes into this fight unconditioned, he always brings it in the first round – including against Nick Diaz, who is considered by many to have the best boxing in MMA. With that being said, there’s no way Rory can stand with him in the first round, which will force him to take it to the ground. And with B.J.’s takedown defense being so good, he won’t get him down until the end of Round 1 with not much time to do anything. Then in the second round, Rory will take him down again, but with more success because B.J. will be tired – but he conserves energy very well on the ground and can catch his breath and submit Rory, or take it to the third round and win the decision by standup (having caught his breath).

Christopher Hulse
Wasco, Calif.

RONDA ROUSEY SHOULD BE A LADY FIRST

I know sensationalism sells, i.e. Terrell Owens, Nick Diaz, Chael Sonnen, etc. Rousey has sensationalized herself into big fights, and now into the UFC, and dominated women’s MMA. But as they say, “Lady in the streets and freak in the sheets.” She has this obnoxious immaturity about her where she sounds like a pubescent girl from a trailer park. Yeah, she has the spotlight right now – but her personality over time will begin to rub people raw and she will be too over the top, say something really controversial to try to keep herself relevant and be looked at as the Roseanne Barr of MMA. Once one of the funniest and decorated female comedians, she came crashing down with one ill-advised gesture, never to recover. Do I like watching Rousey fight? Yes. Do I like hearing her speak? No. She should speak her mind – just leave the vulgar shock factor out of it.

Johnathan Williams

ZAHABI MADE POOR JUDGEMENT ABOUT FUTURE NO. 1 CONTENDER

This past week, we all saw that Firas Zahabi made a statement saying that Nick Diaz was the true No. 1 contender to GSP’s title. How is that possible at all? Diaz has done nothing to deserve a title shot. I know everyone wants to see Diaz/GSP, but let’s be reasonable. Johny Hendricks went though Fitch/Koscheck/Kampmann and Diaz lost to Condit. Diaz needs to go back to the end of the line to earn his title shot. It is not just given to him based on a loss and then a suspension. Hendricks, on the other hand, has been more active in the past year, stopping three contenders and deserves his chance at the title.

Carl Jalsevac
Mississauga, Ontario, Canada

TIME TO STOP ASKING FOR THE GSP-SILVA SUPERFIGHT

I, for one, could not care less to see a superfight between GSP and Silva. I would much rather see Silva vs. Weidman. I believe that fight would offer much more competition to Silva. The fight between Silva and GSP wouldn’t offer much excitement, Silva standing out of range using his amazing standup to pick apart GSP. With the suggested fight taking place at a catchweight, GSP already stated he would need time to bulk up, further backing up an already crowded welterweight division. So please, people – stop asking for this pointless fight to decide who is the best fighter in a fictional division. As the great Chael P. Sonnen once said, the people who sit around and attempt to create a pound-for-pound list are one step away from the people that sit around and talk about why Batman could beat Superman

Brenden Hutchens
Calgary

DIAZ OVER HENDRICKS AS GSP’S NEXT TEST WOULD BE A SHAME

If Nick Diaz is given a title shot over Johny Hendricks, then Zuffa should just scrap its titles as it will clearly be shown that pay-per-view sales and hype trump recent accomplishments. Potentially, this could be the third title bout in the first four months of 2013 (Jones/Sonnen and Aldo/Edgar) where a challenger is coming off a loss to challenge a champion. Hendricks, in the last year, is coming off three wins against Top 10 competition while racking up two “Knockout of the Night” performances. Diaz may be the bigger name, but Hendricks is clearly the more deserving of the two.

“EatMyRashGuard”
Florissant, Mo.

HOW FAN INTERACTION COULD HELP CONTENDERSHIP

I have an idea that may be usable for the UFC to finally determine a deserving and unquestioned top challenger for the two deepest divisions in the UFC – lightweight and welterweight. The idea is fan interaction. Have Dana White and Joe Silva choose eight of the top challengers from each division. Have fans vote on Facebook, Twitter and via text message for the fighter they deem worthy of the top seed in a tournament-style bracket. For example, the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds would fight each other at a later date, while the No. 7 and No. 8 seeds would fight sooner. Imagine Nick Diaz at No. 1 getting Carlos Condit at No. 2 in a rematch, or Nate Diaz at No. 1 getting Anthony Pettis at No. 2 in an intriguing clash of styles. MMA fans are some of the smartest fans in sports, so let’s do something revolutionary to settle this debate.

Cody Ryan
Oshawa, Ontario, Canada

GOOD CHANCE DIAZ WILL BE NEW CHAMP AT WEEK’S END

In a little over a week, Nate Diaz will be facing off for the lightweight title. I believe he has the tools to beat Henderson. Diaz is very similar to his brother, stylistically, so let’s hope if Henderson tries the same game plan for the Edgar fight – get picked apart for 4 minutes 30 seconds, then showboat for 30 seconds – that Diaz will do what the Diaz brothers do and deliver a crisp Stockton Slap. Diaz will use his range and smack Henderson around, or if Henderson gets ballsy and takes down Diaz, he will be in for a short fight as Diaz is probably one of the best fighters in the UFC off his back.

Brenden Hutchens
Calgary

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UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey is probably the greatest female fighter on the planet, which is a tremendous feat. So why are we seemingly so obsessed with arguing about whether she could beat up men?